Commenting on the publication of PISA’s report, Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said:
“Today's PISA report shows that British pupils receive above-average support from their teachers (1). Britain's science scores have reversed the decline of the last decade, and English and maths scores have remained the same, unlike in other countries where scores fell (2).
“Teachers here have among the largest classes and highest pupil numbers of any OECD country (3), and PISA finds teacher shortages hindering learning in more schools than the OECD average, while other countries are improving (4). Ministers cannot keep asking schools to do more with less. Britain's teachers are making up for the lack of government investment, but they cannot do that forever.
“The results also confirm what the NEU has long warned: too many pupils, poorer pupils especially, do not feel they belong at school (5). Pupils from poorer homes still do far worse than their better-off classmates (6), and over the past decade poorer pupils have fallen further behind in maths (7). Free school meals for every child, not just some, would tackle the stigma and exclusion at the heart of this.
“On AI, pupils are using these tools constantly (8), yet barely two in five feel able to judge whether what they produce is trustworthy (9). Schools need funding, guidance and time to teach this properly.”
Editor’s Note
- OECD, PISA 2025 Results (Volume I): Future-Ready Students (2026), Table I.7, p.40: UK teacher-support mean index +0.23, against an OECD average of +0.03.
- OECD (2026), Table I.1, p.28 and p.93: UK science score +12 points (2022–2025) against an OECD average of −3, with reading and maths flat against an OECD-wide fall; the UK is one of seven systems worldwide where the share of low performers fell and top performers rose simultaneously.
- OECD, Education at a Glance 2025 (2025): UK primary student-teacher ratio 19.5, ranked 4th-highest of 43 countries; class size 27 pupils in public primary schools, ranked 3rd-highest of 37.
- OECD (2026), Table I.7, p.40: 23.2% of UK pupils are in a school reporting no teacher shortage, against 28.8% OECD average.
- OECD (2026), Table I.5, p.36: UK sense-of-belonging mean index −0.10, against an OECD average of +0.09.
- OECD (2026), Table I.2, p.30: 80-point science score gap between advantaged and disadvantaged pupils in the UK in 2025.
- OECD (2026), p.102: UK's decade-long (2015–2025) maths trend concentrated among low-achieving pupils, widening the gap.
- Ofcom, Children and parents: media use and attitudes report 2026 (2026): 56–66% of UK children aged 8–17 have used AI.
- OECD (2026), Table I.6, p.38: 42.4% of UK pupils feel able to assess whether AI-generated information is trustworthy, against an OECD average of 62.6%.